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Poll finds broad support for Medicaid expansion
Registered voters in seven states want their governors to participate in the Medicaid expansion under President Obama's healthcare law, according to polling released Wednesday by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN).
The survey found majority support for the Medicaid expansion in each of the seven states surveyed, some of which are on the fence about the expansion.
The smallest majority supporting the expansion was in Texas, where 58 percent said their states should accept federal funding to expand the healthcare program for poor and disabled people.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has said he will probably reject the expansion.
Republicans aren't united against the Medicaid expansion, though. New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez (R) has said she'll accept the expansion — and the accompanying federal funding. Sixty-one percent of registered voters in her state agree with that position, according to the ACS CAN surveys.
The healthcare law expands Medicaid eligibility to 133 percent of the federal poverty level. The federal government initially covers the entire cost of covering the newly eligible population; that share falls to 90 percent over the next decade.
Some Republican governors say they're skeptical the federal government will follow through on those funding commitments and don't want to take part in a program they might later have to fund. States, though, are able to drop out of the expansion at any time if they choose to participate initially.
“States have an opportunity to provide millions of currently uninsured people nationwide with lifesaving health coverage through Medicaid, and public sentiment in various areas of the country is decidedly in favor of states using available federal dollars to pay for it,” said Chris Hansen, president of ACS CAN.
